Experts Discuss How Research and Technology Will Transform the Future of Medicine

FORT WORTH – In Fort Worth, a different approach to medical research is happening.

At the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University research begins with a student-focused and patient-centered approach.

It is estimated that 85 percent of medical discoveries happen within a 20-mile radius of an academic medical center. The Burnett School of Medicine at TCU’s new medical education building, which is scheduled to open in Summer 2024, is in the center of Fort Worth’s Medical Innovation District.

This provides a unique opportunity for the medical school because Fort Worth is the 13^th largest city and  fastest growing city in America since 2020, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

“We have one currency that many cities don’t and that would be patients,” said Stuart D. Flynn, M.D., the medical school’s Founding Dean. “We have great hospital partners, and we have a very diverse population of patients and that is something that is sorely needed in the discovery arm of medicine.”

Dean Flynn served as the moderator of a panel discussion titled “Shaping the Future of Health Care: The Research Vision of Burnett School of Medicine.” Panelists included Mohanakrishnan Sathyamoorthy, M.D., Chair of Internal Medicine at Burnett School of Medicine at TCU; Robert Benkowski, CEO of DesignPlex Biomedical LLC, CEO and Co-founder of Opsin Biotherapeutics; and Russell Lewis, Chief Information & Digital Officer of Parkland Center for Clinical Informatics.

“This is an opportunity to be transformative,” Sathyamoorthy said. “Our students get to ask key questions that have impact on our patients from our practice for instance. They are given the tools necessary to be very collaborative in research, seek resources and have no fear in terms of who they need to work with to ultimately get to that end point and the discovery is for the benefit of the patient and the student.”

Another opportunity is bringing big medical device companies to Tarrant County, said Bob Benkowski, who made the move to Fort Worth years ago. He discussed how Fort Worth has changed and progressed a lot regarding medical device development over the past 12 years.

“I think the potential is huge,” he said.  With companies like “Galderma, Alcon and some of the new start-ups and the medical school, it’s going to be easier for us to attract talent to come to Fort Worth and stay here.”

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is starting to play a key role in research. AI is being used for participant recruitment in hopes of finding proper clinical trial participants, Lewis said.

“I think you’re going to see a greater volume of clinical trials because these AI companies that don’t really know anything about biotech or pharma are teaming with pharma companies to do small molecule drug discoveries, so the volume is going to go up,” he said.

More than 80 healthcare industry leaders across North Texas gathered to hear about the medical school’s new approach. Nestled at each table with those industry leaders were medical students sharing details about their current research.

“Research is important to put our name on the map as a medical school but also to make sure that our care for patients is the best that it can be,” said Kailie McGee, MS-2, at Burnett School of Medicine.

Research is a part of Burnett School of Medicine’s Empathetic Scholar® curriculum. Each student is required to complete a four-year Scholarly Pursuit & Thesis (SPT) research project. The SPT course is integrated throughout the four-year curriculum and is designed to develop physicians for patient-centric care and who become life-long learners capable of critical inquiry and medical information literacy.

McGee is researching if exercise can increase or decrease the response of Alpha Synuclein, a presynaptic neuronal protein that is linked genetically and neuropathologically to Parkinson’s Disease. She’s hoping to enroll 100 Fort Worth area patients into her study.

“Everyone has been kindly guiding us through this process,” McGee said. “They’ve taught us the basics of what we need to know to be able to do a project this massive.”

The medical school has a novel approach to medical education that partners students with physicians from their first day in medical school through its Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC) curriculum.

The early exposure to patient care and being able ask questions is unique to attending medical school in Fort Worth, McGee added.

“Once you show them that you are on their team it’s sort of attacking a disease or a problem together,” McGee said. “There’s that unbreakable bond it’s unlike anything I’ve experienced.”

Dr. Sathyamoorthy touched on how the students could go from learning about theory in their classrooms to executing a clinical trial. He emphasized the importance of transforming the way a person thinks about asking questions and how to find the best ways to answer any questions in the medical field.

“We’re distributing our resources and knowledge through the community,” Dr. Sathyamoorthy said. “And then we’re bringing the community into our research.”